Combined filling and closing machine



J. C. TALIAFERRO. COMBINED FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14, 19l6L. Jan. 4,

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

J. C. TALIAFERRO.

COMBINED FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14, l9l6.

Patented Jan. 4,1921,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J. c.v T AL|AFERRO. COMBINED FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE- Patenwd Jim. 4, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I4. 1916.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C. TALIAFERRO, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

COMBINED FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE.

Patented Jan. 4, 1921.

Application filed March 14, 1916. Serial No. 84,083.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. TALIAFERRO, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Filling and Closing Machines, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanyto the filled can by clenching, double-seaming or other equivalent means.

An object of the invention is to provide a combined filling and closing machine wherein the empty cans may be presented one after another to the filling machine, and thence to the closing machine by a single conveyer, and thus the transferring of the filled cans from one conveying mechanism to another with more or less resultant spilling of the contents thereof is avoided.

Another object of the invention "is to provide a machine of the above character wherein a rotating drum having a thread thereon may be utilized for resenting the can to the filling machine an thence to the closing machme.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the above character wherein a plurality of filling machines may be used in connection with a single closing machine.

A still further object of the inventionis to provide afilling machine having a measuring compartment for measuring the solid or semi-solid contents to be supplied to the cans wherein the liquid contents to be added to the cans is delivered thereto throughsaid measuring compartment whereby the same may be utilized for flushing the measuring compartment and insuring that the entire tion to the inner walls of the measuring measured quantity is delivered to the can.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the above character wherein the liquid to be supplied to the cans and utilized for flushing the measuring compartment is directed in a tangential direccompartment whereby an efiicient flushing of the compartment may be accomplished with a relatively small amount of liquid.

These and other objects will in part be obvious and will in part be hereinafter more fully disclosed.

In the drawings, which show by way of illustration one embodiment of the invention:-

Figure 1 is a view, partly in front elevation and partly in section, showing a machine embodying my improvements;

Fig. 2 is an enlargedview, partly in front elevation and partly insection, showing the filling machine in position for discharging the contents of the measuring compartment into the can and for the flushing of the same;

Fig. 3 is a view, partly in end elevation and partly in section, of the parts shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view, partly in plan and partly in section, showing the cam cylinder for operating the measuring slides and the controlling valve, and also said measuring slides and the delivering pipe for delivering the liquid to the measuring compartment;

Fig. 5 is a detail showing the fillin pipe and the controlling valve for the liqui and Fig. 6 is a view, in part similar to the view shown in Fig. 2, showing the measuring slides shifted for filling the measuring compartment.-

The invention consists generally in a closing machine having means for applying a cover to a filled can and for securing the same to said filled can. This closing machine is preferably of a type for doubleseaming the cover to the can body, although clenching means or other securing means may be used in place of the double-seaming rolls. In conjunction with said closing machine, there is a filling machine for supplying to the cans one after another a measured amount of solid, semi-solid, or liquid sub stance, as desired.

Cooperating with this filling and closing machine is a single conveyer which, in the present embodiment of the invention, is in the form of a rotating drum having a thread spirally wound thereon, which thread is adapted to engage the cans and convey the same first to the filling machine and then to the closing machine. This thread on the drum is practically so constructed as to give a dwell to the can while it is being filled. In

the resent embodiment of the invention, two lling machines are used, and the thread on the drum presents the can first to one filling machine, where it is partially filled,

and then to the other filling machine, where the filling is completed.

In order to facilitate the fill-ing of the cans and to insure that the entire measured quantity of solid or semi-solid material is discharged into the can, means is provided for delivering the liquid separate from the Said closing machine has a central rotating spindle 3 carrying-a seaming head 4 having seaming rolls 5. In Fig. 1 of the drawings a can body is shown resting on a support 6 which is raised, and the seaming head is double-seaming the cover onto the can. The can is indicated at 7 in this figure.

The closing machine is provided with a cover stack 8 and means for feeding the cover onto the cover seat underneath the seaming head. The support 6 is raised and lowered by a lever, indicated at 9. This closing machine per 86 forms no part of my invention, and said machine is shown and described in detail in the application filed by Ivar F Warme, August 18th, 1915, Serial No. 46,133.

Extending laterally from the supporting frame of the closing machine is a bracket which supports a feed drum 10. This feed drum is mounted on a shaft 11 which is journaled in bearings 12 and-13. The shaft is driven by the beveled gear 14, and this in turn drives the drum 10. The empty can bodies are delivered onto the drum 10 from a rotating disk 15 which is rotated by a gear 16-from a cross shaft 17 which in turn is rotated by a beveled gear 18 on the end of the shaft 11. A guiding rail 19 extends along this drum,'and said guiding rail is provided with a supporting ledge 20 along which the can bodies are guided, see Fig. 3. Spirally wound on the drum 10 is a projecting thread 21. This thread receives the can bodies from the delivering disk 15 and conveys the same along the guiding, rail and supporting ledge 19 and 20 to the closing machine.

In the present embodiment of m invention, I have shown two filling machines, one being indicated at A and the other at B.

These filling machines are similar in con struction, and a description of one will answer for the other.

The filling machine consists of a tank 22 in which is placed the solid material to be fed into the cans. Said tank has a tapered lower end which is connected to a delivering spout 23. This delivering spout extends to a position directly over the upper end of the can body, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, wherein the can body for the filling machine A is indicated at a and the can body for the filling machine 13 is indicated at Z). The lower end 24 of the delivering spout is slightly contracted to facilitate the discharging of the contents into the can. Said spout is formed with a measuring compartment 25. This measuring compartment is determined by the slides 26 and 27 which pass through the spout, and said slides are supported so that they may be freely moved 1 by brackets 28. The slides 26 and 27 are connected by suitable brackets 29 and 30. The slide 26 is formed with an opening 31, while the slide 27 has an opening 32. The slides are simultaneously moved back and forth by an arm 33 which is secured to a shortshaft 34 mounted in suitable brackets carried by the bracket for the drum 10. The slide 27 has a downwardly turned end carrying a pin adapted to engage a slot 35 in the lower end of the arm 33. The shaft 34 is oscillated by. an arm 36 which is connected by a link 37 to a lever 38 mounted on a cross shaft 39 supported in a manner similar to the cross shaft 34. The lower end of the lever 38 carries a roller 40 which runs in a cam groove 41 formed in a cam drum 42 carried by the shaft 43. This shaft is also mounted in suitable brackets 44 and 45 which are carried by the bracket supporting the drum 10. The shaft 43 is rotated by a beveled gear 46 which meshes with a beveled gear 47 carried by a stub shaft supported by a bracket 48, and this stub shaft is driven by a sprocket chain 49 from the cross shaft 17.

Associated with the filling machine is a separate tank 50 which is adapted to contain the liquid used in filling the cans. From the bottom end of this tank leads a pipe 51, which pipe is connected to the spout 23 adjacent the upper end of the measuring compartment. Said pipe leads tangentially into the measuring compartment, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, so that liquid discharged by the pipe will follow the inner curved surface of the measuring compartment and flush the inner wall thereof. The flow of liquid through the pipe 51 may be regulated by a hand valve 52 and also by an automatic valve 53. Said automatic valve, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, is in the form of a rotating valve member 54 having a central passage 55 which may be brought into regis ter with the passage in the'pipe 51 or out of register therewith in order to stop the flow of the liquid. The rotating valve member.54'is connected to an arm 56, and when I the arm is in the position shown in Fig. 5,

that is on the line ss, the flow of li uid through the pipes starts. This arm, w on turned to the position indicated by the line 0-0, throws the valve into register with the passage through the pipe and permits the flow of the liquid. The arm 56 1s connected by an adjustable link 57 to the lever 38 which operates the slides 26 and 27.

The operation of my device is as follows:

The empty cans are placed on the disk 15 and will be fed one at a time to the con veyer drum 10., The thread 21 on the conveyer drum is gradually moving the can along the guide rail 19. Said thread 21 is formed with a straight portion 58 so as to give the can a dwell directl underneath the spout 23 of the filling mac ine A, and also 'with a straight portion 59 so as to give the cana second dwell directly underneath the spout 23 of the filling machine B.

' When the slides 26 and 27 are in the posit1on shown in Fig. 6, the solid material or semi-solid material contained in the tank 22 will fill the measuring compartment. In this position of the slides, the valve 54 controlling the li uid supplied from the tank 50 is closed. uring this time, while the measured compartment is being filled, the can is moving underneath this spout 23. The shaft 43 is sotimed and the cam groove 41 is so constructed asflto shift said slides so as to move the same to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, which closes the passage leading from the measuring compartment to the tank 22 and opens the measuring compartment at the lower end thereof to dismeasuring compartment, thus completely flushing the entiresurfac'e of the measuring compartment and washing down into the can any remainingsolid particles clinging to the walls of themeasurmg compartment. (The filling machine is preferably designed so that the-can is filled with half of its contents from the filling machine A and is com pletely filled by the filling machine B. As soon as the flushing of the measuring compartment has been effected and the proper amount of the liquid has been discharged designed for filling cans having solid or semi-solid contents, and the utilizing of the liquid contents of the can for flushing the measuring compartment not only insures that the exact measured quantit is discharged into the can but greatly acilitates the discharge so that it may be quickly accomplished;

It will be noted from the above construction that the cans to be filled are presented by a single conveyer first to one filling machine and then to the other, and finally to the closing machine. By using a single conveyer for this purpose, I avoid the transfer of a filled can from one conveyor to another which results in more or less spilling of the contents of the can. Furthermore, by the above construction wherein a thread wound on a drum may be used for moving the can to the filling machine and from the filling machine to the closing machine, said thread may be so proportioned as to gradually stop the can or bring the same to a dwell and can details of construction and the arrangement v of parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention,'as set forth in the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1 Afilling machine including in combination, a cylindrical measuring compartment for measuring the solid and semi-solidcontents for the can, means for dischargingthe contents from the measuring compartment into the can, means for discharging the liquid contents for the can tangentially 'into the upper portion of the measuring compartment, and means for controlling said liquid supply whereby it is introduced into the measuring compartment after the solid or semi-solid contents has been discharged from the measuring compartment, said; liquid contents serving to flush the measurmg compartment. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' JOHN o. TALIAFERRO.

Witnesses:

GRACE P. BRERETON,.

ALBrR'r A. Porxms. 

